Hewitt reportedly to pull out of Nasdaq-100

[HookEmJeff]

Just got this off the wire. This sucks for the tournament. Apparenly, Hew's toes were a little worse off yesterday than we thought. He said as much in his post-match press conference, too. Looks like he's going to pull out of the Nasdaq if this story is correct


Hewitt to withdraw from Nasdaq-100 Open
MIAMI (Ticker) - The Nasdaq-100's loss reportedly will turn out to be Andy Roddick's gain.

According to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia will skip this week's ATP event at Key Biscayne due to an injured toe, enabling Florida resident Andy Roddick to move up to the No. 2 seed.

Hewitt played on the injured toe in Sunday's final at Indian Wells, losing in straight sets to Roger Federer. With the second seed out, Roddick would assume the spot behind Federer.

While Hewitt may be absent, the tournament may be getting a boost from a healthy Andre Agassi, who was forced to withdraw from Indian Wells on Friday due to an inflamed big toe. According to the report, an Agassi representative told Nasdaq-100 officials to expect his family Monday.

The tournament begins Wednesday, but as a seeded-player, Agassi likely will not have a match until Friday or Saturday.

 

[rhubarb]

Yes, Hewitt has withdrawn, and he's not in the draw. Roddick's second seed (although seeing his draw I don't think it's helped him much).

 

[Andy Hewitt]

I hope Roddick makes it all the way through now so we can actually see a real final.... although i have never seen Federer play Roddick.

 

[Colpo]

Hewitt's in an enviable rut right now: beats all but the best, and with regularity! Agree with Andy, don't mind the potential for fresh blood in a final. Not to say they'd do any better, but Hewitt is pretty hopeless right now against Roger. What the heck does Roger Rasheed suggest as a game plan? - I didn't see anything all that different yesterday. Now just hope that a Jiri Novak, who would also have zero shot against Federer, doesn't go on some kind of sick run to the final, 'cuz that's blowout city, baby!

 

[HookEmJeff]

Yeah, just looked at the draw. You're right, Roddick has a beee-yotch of a draw with Moya and Nadal in his section, just to get to the semis. Safin has the easiest section, I'd say, though who knows if he'll be able to take advantage.

Jeff

 

[ty slothrop]

I hope Roddick makes it all the way through now so we can actually see a real final.... although i have never seen Federer play Roddick.

well, they played about five times last season including finals of Wimbledon and TMS Toronto, not to mention 2003 Wimbledon semis, TMS Toronto final, and TMC final in Houston.

I believe Rod holds a 1-8 career record, the only victory coming in 2003 Toronto with Fed having matchpoints to take over #1

 

[rhubarb]

Yeah, just looked at the draw. You're right, Roddick has a beee-yotch of a draw with Moya and Nadal in his section, just to get to the semis. Safin has the easiest section, I'd say, though who knows if he'll be able to take advantage.

Jeff

Nadal, Moya...not to mention Ljubicic

 

[pound cat]

Hewitt made a very untypical remark after the iW final. He said both of his toes were bothering him but "I don't think I could have beat him anyway". sounds as if he's completely given up figuring out how to beat Federer.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Hewitt made a very untypical remark after the iW final. He said both of his toes were bothering him but "I don't think I could have beat him anyway". sounds as if he's completely given up figuring out how to beat Federer.

I am quoting here the former great (in doubles) Canadian Sebastien Lareau who mentioned during his commentary on RDS that one of the issues with Hewitt is the fact he's basing his shots too much on rotation and he's not stepping into them as much as Fed does. I think he has a point here.

 

[HookEmJeff]

I am quoting here the former great (in doubles) Canadian Sebastien Lareau who mentioned during his commentary on RDS that one of the issues with Hewitt is the fact he's basing his shots too much on rotation and he's not stepping into them as much as Fed does. I think he has a point here.

I really don't know what more Hewitt can do to up the caliber of his game, other than hold serve more. He's gotten stronger, fitter and more consistent over the years. I think Hewitt is a lot more of a dictater of play than most people give him credit for.
The fact is he can't keep in the points against Federer long enough to make a dent (that 45-stroke rally notwithstanding. He either A) has to hope Federer will supply him more errors or B) Go for more winners and hope he's grooving, esepcially on his serve

A good start might help, too. Federer has really jumped on him early in the last few matches.

Jeff

 

[USCfan]

Good- it'll be easier for me to watch now.

 

[barry]

With Hewitt out, Roddick might have a chance! Good news for the Roddick camp, now if Federer withdraws even better news.

 

[arosen]

Marat has been getting very, very favorable draws all the way but he is not interested or something, back to the good old "not a care in the world days", I guess.

 

[Rob_C]

Roddick might have to play Verdasco again in the 2nd rd, if Verdasco beats Peter Wessels, which is a very winnable match for Verdasco.

As for Hewitt's strategy against Federer, he definitely was trying to dictate more earlier in the points, but sometimes it resulted in unforced errors on his part. I think in the future against Federer, he'll continue to try and dictate more, and put more pace on the ball. It sorta worked yesterday, he wrongfooted Federer a few times.

 

[Rickson]

Hewitt needs to play the net more and get better at it. Hewitt volleys about as often as Agassi does and it's just not the way to play aggressively against Federer. If Suzuki had a better baseline game, he would have played a much closer match against Federer.